Christine Feehan - Predatory Game

Raw desire mixed with something else, something she’d never seen before. Could he love her? Was it possible? She pushed a hand through her hair, suddenly uncertain of what to do.

“Baby? What is it? You look as upset as Patsy.”

The caress in his drawling voice warmed her when she hadn’t even known she was cold. She shook her head. “There’s black paint as well as scrapes and a large dent in her car, Jesse. Someone hit her.” And there was a listening device somewhere on her person. Saber had to find it and destroy it. “Did you go anywhere else today besides the radio station?” She poured tea and added a little milk, setting the cup down in front of Patsy. She was very casual, moving around Jess’s sister to stand at her side so she could once again rest her hand on Patsy’s shoulder in comfort.

“Just the police station to report the accident.”

Saber nodded. “Maybe you should have gone to the hospital and let them check you out. You didn’t hit your head did you? Or hurt your neck?”

She had it now. The low-level energy was coming from Patsy’s jacket pocket. Anyone could have dropped it in as she passed by them on a sidewalk.

She was fairly certain that it was no accident that someone had hit Patsy’s car and then taken off. But why? Saber studied Jess’s face. He looked cool until she looked at his eyes and felt the volcano simmering just below the surface. He was enraged, and that meant he’d come to the same conclusion Saber had: someone had tried to harm his sister. But if that was so, then who put the bug in her pocket? She looked at Jess again as he leaned forward, his sister’s hand in his, murmuring comfort to her.

She had been with him nearly eleven months. When she was close to him, he stilled the demons that plagued her. Not because he was a GhostWalker and an anchor, but because everything inside her was at peace when he was near. He made her laugh. Not a fake, polite smile, but a genuine laugh. More than that, she liked him, liked being with him. He was intelligent and could talk about any subject she was interested in. Jess was her best friend.

She couldn’t believe he was really betraying her. She couldn’t bear it if he was involved in a conspiracy against her. She took a breath, let it out, and turned away to keep her composure. There was something so endearing in watching him comfort his sister, that look of love on his face, the gentleness in him.

But the fact remained that he was a GhostWalker and she was on the run and Whitney would do just about anything to get his hands on her. But could she leave Jess when he might need her the most? There was a listening device tuned to the exact frequency of his voice-she’d worked with rhythm and sound enough to know Jess’s when she heard it. Still, her mouth was dry, her heart fighting for acceleration, which meant her body was in flight mode.

Jess chose that moment to look up at her and smile. The warmth in his eyes, the tenderness, swamped her.

Okay. She would try to gather more information and just keep her guard up every second. That meant watching him taste their food and drink in case he put a drug in it to sedate her. She shoved a hand through her hair and sighed. The complications were enormous and she was crazy to stay.

“Saber,” he asked, his voice gentle, “is something wrong?”

“I’m upset that this could happen to Patsy,” Saber said, and it wasn’t altogether a lie. She hated that Patsy might be in danger as well.

Patsy immediately reached out and caught her hand. “I’m all right, just a little shaken. If it hadn’t been that exact spot, I’d be all right. I go there often and put flowers just over the guardrail. I had no idea that dirt road was there or that anyone lived on it. It’s a scary drive to come off of, onto that highway right in the middle of a hairpin turn.”

Saber took the opportunity to move very close to Patsy, zeroing in on the listening device. One tiny burst and the bug was toast, but if she didn’t direct it exactly, she could destroy everything electronic in the house. Worse, she was sincerely worried about Patsy’s heart. Something was off, the rhythm not quite right. If she blew it, she could kill Patsy, and that didn’t bear thinking about.

“Tell us what was so important before all this happened,” Saber encouraged, knowing she was opening a can of worms, but determined that Patsy would stop crying. “Let me take your jacket for you, and you just relax and have tea and tell us what’s up.”

Patsy straightened immediately. “Yes. I had something very important to discuss with you both.”

Saber reached down to help Patsy out of her jacket, not giving her a choice in the matter. Jess raised his eyebrows at her, not at all pleased that they were about to get a lecture. Both of them knew what was coming, and Saber had deliberately invited it.

Patsy lifted her chin and glared at her brother, which was difficult to do when he had just been so loving to her. “I have come to save Saber from your playboy tendencies, Jess. You’re a hound dog and you know it. She’s a sweet, innocent girl who needs my protection and I intend to give it to her.”

Saber hid a grin at Jesse’s aggrieved look and carried the jacket across the room to the doorway leading to the living room. She needed to get it as far from Patsy as possible.

Saber hung the coat in the closet and, glancing back toward the kitchen to assure herself no one could observe her, placed her hand on the listening device and concentrated on keeping the electromagnetic pulse streamlined toward that one small object only. The brief surge of energy eliminated the faint vibration so she could breathe a sigh of relief. She’d check the computers and Jess’s cell phone as soon as she could, but she was fairly certain she’d kept the pulse centered on Patsy’s jacket pocket.

“Very funny, you two,” Jess said as Saber reentered the room. “It’s a good thing I’m not sensitive.”

“I’m thinking you need to go to the hospital for a checkup, Patsy,” Saber said, changing the subject abruptly, knowing Jess would follow her lead if only to get out of another lecture.

“Saber’s right, Patsy. You could have internal injuries we don’t know about,” Jess agreed.

Patsy rolled her eyes. “You’re both just saying that to distract me. Saber’s much too young, Jess, to be living with you like this.”

“Actually I just look young,” Saber said. She might be small and waiflike, not tall and elegant with womanly curves, but she certainly was a fully grown woman. “I’m a lot older than you think.” But she couldn’t very well tell her age when she didn’t know it herself. Whitney wasn’t big on giving out that kind of information. She hadn’t known people celebrated things like birthdays and Christmases and anniversaries until very recently. “And truly, when you came in that day and we were clowning around, it was only a joke. Jess is always a gentleman with me.”

“Even when I don’t want to be,” Jess muttered under his breath.

Patsy leaned forward. “What did you say?”

“I said I’d never hurt Saber, not in a million years, Patsy,” Jess assured.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t hurt her deliberately,” Patsy said. “But she isn’t like your other bimbos.”

Saber leaned her hip against the wall and grinned at Jess. “I see Patsy’s met Chaleen. She was here recently, Patsy. She wanted to pick up where they left off.”

“Jess!” Clearly aghast, Patsy reached out to her brother. “Are you all right?”

“Of course I am. Saber sent her away.”

Patsy cast Saber a grateful look. “I detested that woman. She only pretended to enjoy all the things Jess liked. And she really didn’t like the family.”

“Families can be scary,” Saber admitted.